Replacements reunion show already a hot bootleg

Tommy Stinson, left, and Paul Westerberg were caught on tape at Toronto's RiotFest on Sunday. / Photo by Tony Nelson

The you-know-what has hit the fans once again.

A bootleg recording of the Replacements’ reunion set Sunday in Toronto has been making the rounds online pretty much since first thing Monday morning, originating from the fan-driven Replacements Live Archive Project, then the blog SlicingUpEyeballs. The proliferation has gotten so widespread, even Rolling Stone posted the entire 75-minute performance online today.

We figure if the band isn’t going to get litigious with media mogul Jann Wenner over that one, then surely they won’t sue their independently owned hometown newspaper for posting at least a few of the tracks, right? (If it were Prince, we’d think otherwise.)

One reason the blind eye might be turned on this one: The quality of the recording is pretty substandard, even for ‘Mats fans who’ve been listening to crappy bootlegs going back to the 1984 cassette “The Sh** Hits the Fans.” But it’s good enough to hear a good time was had by all.